Oracle: dreams of love
by Verve
Summary: Mariunwittingly falls into the web of the four gods and must survive alone, and deaf. Chapt 2 up and Chap 1 edited. Tasuki and Chiciri make a terrible mistake...
1. Prelude to a vision

{a*u*t*h*o*r*s**n*o*t*e*}  
  
Hi hi! I'm not going to say much, cause I don't wanna right now, just like to say the basic disclaimer stuff, don't own 'em unless I made them up and such. Besides that I hope you enjoy what I've written so far and be assured that it picks up after this.  
  
Please! R&R! I know there's something in here that you like, and something you hate, so let me know. please!! (P.S. I'm peeved that no one let me know about the blaring grammatical errors I made. really peeved!!!) Okay, enough begging, get reading ^_^  
  
{P*r*o*l*o*u*g*u*e*}  
  
She stared into the musky air between the shelves scattered with strange things that seemed to take on the atmosphere and wear its form. Ancient artifacts and grotesque baubles stared at her as she walked slowly through the shafted light that was thrown by the twisting bits of dust that fell through it. Her heels clicked with an empty noise on the chilled floor. The musk and intense strangeness melded together to form a blanket that twisted around her. She worriedly knawed at her lip and turned towards her friend down the isle.  
  
"Mari, are you finished yet?" The girl behind her was crouched, and intensely considering several shelves through a layer of wavy white hair that had a terrible habit of falling across her face. "This place is giving me the willies." Emily made a show of hugging herself and shivering.  
  
No response. not that she was expecting any.  
  
Unconsciously, she pulled out a cigarette and perched it, unlit, in the corner of her mouth. Her uncomfortable feeling fled in the face of inattention and she sighed heavily, letting her shoulders fall. She impatiently pulled her mousy brown hair to one side of her shoulder, making no effort on her part to conceal the exasperation that racked her entire body. She hadn't wanted to come here in the first place. An normal antique's place would have been fine, there was a quaintness about even the mustiest of them. But here, it was different. The things that sat on these shelves were alien to her, and mystery always made her nervous. In three quick steps she was next to her friend, and with one hard tap she had her attention as well.  
  
"Listen, we've been here for half an hour, find something for that crazy sister of yours and lets go!" She glowered at her friend and the caught a sudden draft and looked around, hitching her bag up on one shoulder. "Beside this place is giving me the creeps."  
  
Mari simply smiled and patted her friend on the head with a tanned hand. In one deft move she yanked the cigarette from her mouth and looked at her with a motherly gaze.  
  
"Don't say it, I know already." Mari hated it when she smoked and Emily put up both of her hands in a sign of surrender that made her friend smile up at her with a victorious grin.  
  
Mari was about to console her friend with the promise of leaving soon when something caught her eye. It was a turtle, the size of her palm, made of jade and eyes gleaming white. It sat royally on the third shelf, his head forever frozen in a smooth angle from his shell. Four round feet held him up with little effort and the geometric pattern on his back and stomach was inlayed with a fine gold leaf. Carefully, she extracted him from his place among the relics, feeling the cool stone against her hands and the tiny bumps of his skin that almost seemed to breath from the magic of some artisans touch.  
  
Mari looked at Emily, who's dark brown eyes had gone wide looking at the turtle. Mari smiled and reached out to grab her hand; gently unfolding Emily's fingers. With a grace and care that Emily always wondered at, Mari settled the small jade wonder into her palm and let her feel the weight of it. She looked down and smiled at Mari, who was beaming at her with shining gray eyes.  
  
"This is it." She said slowly, with a certain awe and a slow nod of her head. "It's perfect. It's almost too nice for that lunatic sister of yours." She turned over the turtle in her hands to look at the delicate stomach. "But we love her anyway. hey, look at this." She pointed at a series of golden curves that where unlike the rest of the shell; carved a bit deeper and too smooth to look like a natural part of any creature. "That's strange, I've never seen marking like this before."  
  
"You've made a very fine selection young ladies." A touch of something against Emily's jeans and swish of cloth made her cry out suddenly, and turn to see a very small, very wrinkled man grinning up at her with wisdom etched in every inch of his face. There was something else in his eyes that told her not to like this man. "He's one of my favorites, that turtle is. May I ask who he's for?" Emily eyed the man warily.  
  
"It's for her sister, it's a welcome home present." Unconsciously she tugged on the hem of her sweatshirt with her free hand, having watched one too many anime where the grandfather figure had been a psychotic pervert with a gleam in his eye. "How much do you want for it? Twenty dollars?" She almost cringed at the way the old man skittered up to her palm to glance at the carving.  
  
"Let me see your panties, and it's free" His smile grew wide and toothy as he clenched his hands together in the sleeves of his robe.  
  
"WHAT!?!?" Emily screamed, her face wild with rage. She was ready to bash the turtle to the floor when she heard a sound that made her stop. It was like a goose, crying out after being hit by a car and dying slowly. A sound that would have been terror in anyone's ears except for Emily's, who heard it as a sweet sound that came too little.  
  
Mari was laughing.  
  
"Little Bird," Mari signed to her using her favorite nickname, "even this old man can read you thoughts." The shop keeper beamed from Mari to Emily, and then back to Mari.  
  
"What did your friend say?" He looked at Emily with a sly smile.  
  
"She said that I should know better than to judge people in their presence, 'cause I'm more transparent than saran wrap," she looked at the man with a dirty eye, "and that the turtle is only worth ten dollars." Emily sneered down athim, but then felt a hand on her shoulder pull her back. She looked at Mari questioningly; who only shook her head at her and carefully took the turtle from her palm.  
  
Crouching down to meet the man eye to eye she held out the turtle and smiled winningly. She pointed at the jade statue in her hand and then took a coin from her pocket and shrugged. Emily immediately recognized her way of asking some one who didn't sign how much something cost. Mari had developed many systems like that, and Emily almost didn't like it when she did it with her around to translate. Sure, it was nice for her to be independent and all, but best friends could rely on each other, that's what they were for.  
  
"For you, he's 45 dollars." The fold of the old mans cloak rustled as he held up a hand, first flashing four fingers, and then five. Mari only smiled. With her free hand she pointed to the turtle and then put up one finger followed by five more.  
  
"15 dollars? No, I can't let him go for that little." He held up a hand with three fingers. "30, that's as low as I'll go." He made a slashing motion in the air to indicate his final price.  
  
Mari examined the man's hand and then the turtle. Her face suddenly went dark and she sighed, shaking her head. She looked as if she were about to cry, and stood up, carefully situating the turtle back onto the shelf.  
  
"Dat to baad." She brayed what few words she could say. She shrugged and looked at Emily. "I guess we'll have to look else where." She signed, and the old man seemed to understand as he looked at her worriedly.  
  
"Yeah, it's too bad, cause you're sister would have loved it." Emily signed as she spoke. She turned to the old man, who looked slightly perplexed and wasn't quite sure if he was being played the fool or not. "Sorry man, no dice." She turned to follow Mari who was already walking away. Suddenly, the little merchant made his move and waddled over to Mari, grabbing the hem of her long faded sweater to get her attention.  
  
"Twenty," he put two fingers in her face. "But you drive a hard bargain for the quietest customer I've had in years." He beamed up at her, hoping that this offer would be excepted. It was, and in a manner he didn't count on.  
  
In an instant he was lifted off the floor and hugged tightly, a soft grating noise he took as a giggle of happiness coming from his captor. She swung him around once, and then set him down, prancing over to where the turtle sat and swept his regal body off of the shelf where he was waiting.  
  
"Perfect" Emily translated Mari's quick sign to the man who was ready to laugh as he watched the scene unfold before him and Mari kissed the turtle on his head, happily. When she turned to him and looked about ready to kiss him too he waved a hand towards the register and motioned for them to follow.  
  
In a few quick seconds and with the ring of the cash machine the turtle was hers. She looked at it lovingly as he took out a small box and a few sheets of red tissue paper to wrap it in. As he picked up the turtle, a glint caught her eye and she stopped him with a quick hand on his wrist. Her brow furrowed as she pointed to the turtle's belly, and then looked to Emily to help her out.  
  
"I think she wants to know what the markings on the turtle's belly mean." Emily faced her friend so that she could read what she was saying as she signed as well. Mari shook her head in the affirmative, and looked at the puzzled shopkeeper for a response.  
  
"Well," a strange smile flowed across his face one again, and for some reason Emily still couldn't help but be creeped out. "You girls have good eyes. Those markings are ancient Chinese, along with the tortoise itself." He made sure his head was turned toward the deaf girl and tried his best to enunciate his words so that she could read what he was saying. Nothing in her face gave away any difficulty with his words and she smiled happily as he explained on. "This is Gui Xiang, that's what the markings say here," He ran a finger over a large set of gold squiggles, "And here it says 'righteousness.'" Emily looked at the markings between thin eyes.  
  
"How do you know ancient Chinese." she began to say but a hand on her arm silenced her. Mari had felt her talking through the vibrations in the counter and she smiled at her friend without looking away from the man who she was waving to go on.  
  
"The tortoise is a sign of longevity and guards the northern sky as one of the four gods of the Ling. It's actually rather fascinating." He turned over the tortoise and set it on the paper in it's righted position, carefully wrapping it away. Mari bit her lip and quickly signed something at Emily.  
  
"My friend here says that the Chinese see the turtle as a sort of," she paused for a moment, searching for the right word to match the sign that Mari had used. ".fortune teller, is that true?" The tissue paper stopped rustling for a moment and the man looked almost amazed. Emily met the man's surprised gaze with a hard glance. No one expected the deaf girl to be the smart one, and Emily naturally scorned anyone caught off guard by it.  
  
"Yes," he chuckled and nodded his head. "In a way little one," he looked at Mari and winked, pressing the package into her hand. "In a way."  
  
***  
  
Later that night Mari sat turning the turtle over in her hands, slowly tracing the lines where the man had pointed to the gold markings and move his mouth around the word "righteousness." Her sister really would love the present. At least, Mari hoped with all her heart that she would.  
  
She took a moment to think of her, her plan landing in the terminal right now from her home in Japan. She wondered how much her sister had changed. Sure they typed on the phone and computer now and then, but it was easy not to be yourself when you had the keyboard to talk through. Something in her was very nervous, and she couldn't quite pin down why, besides the thought of seeing her sister and her sister's husband once again.  
  
She liked him, he was a kind man with a kind face. The two worked together on a research facility near a seismically active fault line and had married just under two years ago, but she had only seen him once in person. Mari sighed and petted the turtle absently.  
  
Life for her had been good up until now. She had her share of friends, and her best friend Emily, her parents that loved her, and her sister. Certainly, being deaf was difficult, but no more difficult than it could've been, and at least she had been blessed with a few years of sound when she was a child so she could still speak in limited amounts when she needed to.  
  
Boys liked her and she had had boyfriends, (even though she thought she was a little short, her hips too wide and her nose too round), and gone through normal schooling. She couldn't drive a car even though she was seventeen, a senior in highschool, but really didn't have a desire to; there was nowhere to go in San Francisco that you couldn't walk to, or grab a trolley. She was smart, uncommonly so some would say. The way she saw it she had lost part of her world to sound and she would have to gain it back through knowledge. It made sense to her.  
  
Yes, life had been very good.  
  
She couldn't help looking out the window at the sun that had fallen behind the hills and cast several shade of fire into the sky. The evening star peeked out through the twilight and she sighed heavily.  
  
It's all so beautiful, she thought to herself, and yet. her thoughts trailed off as she looked at the turtle. None of it makes me happy.  
  
Little oracle, in her mind she conversed with the turtle and it's solemn body, I wish I wasn't so lonely. On a whim she turned the turtle over and traced it's marked belly. There was an air of ceremony about it that comforted her. However, as she came to the last small marks an eerie glow settled around the turtle and she felt the world slip away from under her feet. In a moment, she would know nothing but darkness.  
  
{P*o*s*t*n*o*t*e}  
  
How'd you like it? Take the time and tell me ^_^ Oh yeah, I know I didn't use the same name for the tortoise god as it did in the series but be assured that I have done my research. Oh yeah, whatever you're thinking right now about Mari's fate, un think it! That's an order. See yah next time!  
  
Verve 


	2. The awesomest chapter title ever is comi...

It was in the total darkness that she found herself laying on the softness of an earth that was so familiar, but never so un-welcoming. The stillness of the air around her hung uneasily and flakes of watery ash rained down around her. The snow began to build on her lashes, but the prisms of light that were beginning to blur her vision hardly bothered her. She lids sagged heavily under the weight of staying awake as the warmth settled over her body. Her mind was the only part of her body that didn't ache with use, but even it was slow from exhaustion. So her mind began to travel on it's own path, her body staying exactly were it had collapsed.  
  
"Mari." the voice reached out to her from behind the falling seasonal harvest of cherry blossoms, the rays of sun being softly tossed through their peaceful turns and twists. "Mari, it is time for you to become what you truly are." A woman in a warrior's uniform that was entirely black reached out a hand to her, blossoms falling through her fingers as they connected with her own. " I am one of the black warriors, child of Gui Xian, the tortoise god. It is time for you to learn of who you are as well." the woman voice faded away and she let her own mind drift as well. She felt the way her cheeks stretched to see the world unfold before her eyes and heard the faintness of laughter that was like a tingling through her entire body. She could hear. Though she was deaf, in this strange vision sound encompassed her. The woman voice. The sound of laughter, so real but at the same instant so foreign. Her mind scrambled through images of paths of green grasses and blankets of cherry blossoms. The feeling of it all sang to her as a vision of peace and had the faint beauty that remained with her even now like the thought of the first sip of jasmine tea. The warmth of her memories fed her body and the even more welcoming arms of sleep took her.  
  
She had no desire to fight the halo-ed demon of slumber that swept her away from herself, she forgot the reason to her memory as it slipped into a soft pink dream and the fantasy of arms holding her, as she always dreamt with such an ardent underlying hope. Soon even the feeling of another's arms disappeared and her mind finally let her slip into the darkness that was waiting.  
  
***  
  
"I found him like this." Chichiri's voice was solemn, his face dense with shadow. "I'm afraid that he may lose his toes and fingers to frost bite, his ears as well. That is if he awakens at all." His voice trailed away and his shifted to ease any tension in the room; letting the rustle send a gentle ring into the air from his staff.  
  
"I don't know why you bothered to bring him hear, there's nothing we can do." Tasuki was the only other one in the room, standing at the foot of the bed looking over their new guest. The boy had been wrapped tightly in Chichiri's thick winter robes, fur engulfing every part of his body except for his face, which was left exposed for the purpose of breathing.  
  
Chichiri himself had come to the bandit camp a week earlier hoping to find a winter sanctuary. The situation seemed to make Tasuki squeamish at first (a munk living among bandits?) but to refuse an old friend such as Chichiri would have been even worse. They had separated shortly after their last great fight for their priestess. Promising to one day meet again they went their own ways and started new lives. Tasuki never really expected to see his friend again, but now that he was here, the bandit was strangely glad.  
  
"We can feed him warm water slowly and let his body recover, if it does at all." The monk said in a low morbid tone, staring at the features of the young boy. "It's odd how tan he is." He muttered.  
  
"Damn unusual," Tasuki agreed in almost a whisper.  
  
"And his hair." Chichiri faded off thinking of the strange silver color of the dying boys hair. It was unnatural.  
  
"Well, there's nothing much we can do. He's dry, and as warm as we can make him. We could change his clothes, but I don't want to risk moving him."  
  
"They weren't wet anyway, it's as if he hadn't been in the snow for very long, you know." He put his chin on his hand thoughtfully, "and what would a boy his age be doing alone on a mountain pass anyway?" He looked up at Tasuki, who just shrugged.  
  
"I'll bring in fresh warm water every half hour if I can. The fire should be kept high as well, I can get you some fuel myself. Can't trust those stupid dumb asses to do anything around here." Tasuki took one last look at the visitor and then looked to his friend with a wide grin. "Anything else I can do for you?"  
  
"I'm fine, you know." He smiled back and dismissed Tasuki with a wave of his hand. "It's late, you should get to bed." He looked out the thick paned window to see the flashes of white tumbling to the ground against a very black background. Even the moon hid from the cold tonight.  
  
"Yeah, I guess." He hardly felt tired, "let me know if you need anything, or if sleeping weirdo here wakes up." Tasuki made his way to the door, but paused before he opened it fully. "Chichiri, it's good to see you again." His voice was at a soft level that almost surprised the monk, who smiled.  
  
"Same to you, you know."  
  
***  
  
Something soft tapped against Emily's foot, and without looking down the side of her desk to see what it was she carefully shifted her leg. Almost instantly she could feel a small weight moving up the leg of her jeans and towards the pocket of her sweatshirt.  
  
"Mail time," she thought with a sly smile. "Wonder what we have today." She reached into her pocket and softly stroked a bundle of fur that lay shaking in the darkness. She opened her palm completely and the little blue spotted mouse complied (she had drawn polka dots on his white fur with a washable marker after losing a bet, and had liked the look enough to keep it) by boarding her hand and allowing her to lift it out of her pocket. Discretely, she set him on her backpack, where he quickly skittered to a patch of cloth that that lifted up and led her pet into his temporary home where a treat was waiting. She fingered the papers in her pouch and widened her grin. A trained mouse was a rare treasure for a girl like her, and had many uses.  
  
The teacher in the front of the class droned on, and as soon as she knew it was safe she pulled out the papers and inspected them one by one. Five small notes today! She told herself to remember to give Lu, her mouse, an extra treat later; since this was the most he had ever carried.  
  
"Note from Jer about the game Saturday, but I still need to get odds from Keri," she mentally went over the subject of each brief message as she carefully unfolded everyone. "Mike wants a hook up, Liz needs advice on her two- in -one idiot/asshole boyfriend Kyle, Peter's lobbying for support on the free-tibet curry cook off. Why doesn't he get that it's just a bad idea to begin with." she shook her head sadly as she flipped to the final note.  
  
Her eyes widened at the sight of a slip of brilliant blue paper.  
  
"Race." Her thoughts trailed off in shock. She, and ever other girl in her senior class (if not all grades), knew that paper anywhere. "Holy shit!! Race sent me a note. THE Race," her eyes went wide and dared a glance to her left where he was, staring at the front of the class, and pretending not to see her looking at him from the corner of his eye. Returning her attention to the note she folded it open to reveal a deep black pen with a scrawled hand.  
  
Meet me after class.  
  
That was it?!? He wanted to meet her after class? About what? What could Race Mansovick have to say to her? Mr. Gorgious six foot, dark hair, blue eyes had to talk to little mousy brown Emily. Did he have some deep seeded unspokedn passion to discuss with her? It had to be! This was the nearest to exploding she had ever felt. The blood rose to her cheeks and she was suddenly in a mist of bubbles with Race looking deep into her eyes.  
  
"I needed to see you my dearest Emily, I couldn't bear another moment without you. Each instant without you in my arms is like an eternity of suffering. I love you and your plain brown hair, your strong arms, your lush red lips and deep brown eyes. I need you darling Emily. My Emily."  
  
"Emily," the misty illusion vanished immediately as a wrinkled face appeared before her. "Can you tell me just exactly where your mind is? Because it obviously isn't on the recombination of bacterial DNA." The teacher had seen fit to walk all of the way to the near back of the room and break her intimate daydream.  
  
Man, sometimes people really pissed her off.  
  
"Frankly, teach, I don't think any sane person here really has there minds on bacterial recombination, and if they do, I certainly wasn't doing a damned thing to stop them from learning about it." She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair, making a show of getting comfortable and nonchalantly waving at her persecutor. "Please, by all means, continue." Emily opened one lid to look at the teacher squarely, daring them to make their move.  
  
"I've had just about enough of your smart mouth, young lady. And I think," Before she could go on, Emily gripped her bag and stood up.  
  
"I think it's time for me to get going," The bell rang. "And the clock seems to agree! Until next time my dear biology class- Parting is such sweet sorrow!" She cried out, leaping from her desk and prancing out the door. As soon as she was outside she sighed and leaned against the wall. Thank god she knew the bell down to the second, otherwise that would've been a bit too close to call.  
  
"That was some stunt you pulled in there." She looked up to see the owner of the voice she recognized even before looking into his face. "Then again, nothing less for the great Emily Lauren."  
  
"At your service Race," She gracefully swept a mock curtsey and smiled up at the boy, her face much calmer than her stomach, whose butterflies chose not to fly in formation at that very moment. "You had something to talk to me about?" She flicked a small blue scrap out from nowhere between her middle and forefinger. "I'm very impressed that you learned to use my mouse carrier."  
  
"Yeah, it wasn't that tough." He scratched the back of his head shyly and had a hard time making eye contact with Emily. "I've seen him make sweeps of the class before. It's actually kinda cool." She narrowed her eyes at him and suddenly felt very uncomfortable, something she didn't feel very often.  
  
"So, you were going to ask me something?" She started to walk towards her next class, forcing him to keep up with her.  
  
If Mr. Gorgious was going to ask her on a date he would have to be quick about it. The only class she was never late for was her independent project hour, and at the rate he was going he was just getting annoying. Then again. she thought to herself, he's kinda cute when he's all flustered.  
  
"Race?" She stopped quickly and he did as well. He finally looked her right in the eyes, blushed furiously and spit out his question.  
  
"Emily, I was just wondering.uh, well, where's Mari today?" He breathed a sigh and looked as if someone had unloaded a ton of bricks from his shoulders. and bashed them right into Emily.  
  
"Oh." her jaw dropped. Something in her head flashed ominously when he had said her name, something other than disappointment, and it placed a shadow on Emily's heart. Shoving the random, foreboding feeling aside, she felt a slow anger creep into her.  
  
So he didn't want to ask her out. He was too good for her; she knew it from the moment she even started to hope, but Mari was the pretty one. Pretty and silent, that's all guys ever saw in her friend, and it pissed Emily off even more than being over-looked as the plainer one of the pair. Fortunately, she was still the master of the poker face.  
  
"Is that all?" She laughed haughtily and turned on her heel. "Huh. good question! I have no idea." She shrugged as if she hadn't a care in the world, but a thought she couldn't quite name tugged at the back of her head. Where was Mari, she never missed a day of school . She would surgically attach a box of Kleenex to her hand and attach an external catheter to her leg than unnecessarily miss a minute of class.  
  
"But." Race looked hurt. "I thought you guys." she cut him of with a wave of her hand.  
  
"Were best friends? We are, but that doesn't mean I've got her hooked up to a GPS satellite. She's probably just skipping." She knew it was bull the second she said it. Mari skipped about as often as the sun rotated around the Earth, but Emily shrugged it off. She started to walk away, laughing. "Don't worry Lover boy, she's not sick. I was just with her yesterday after school, and she was fine. So, you can still ask her out on a hot date without worrying about catching some disease from a goodnight make-out session." She puckered her lips and made a fish face over her shoulder.  
  
"It's not like that," he yelled, picking up his pace to catch up with her. He grabbed her arm to slow her down, and the suddenness of his nearness made her blush more than she would've liked to admit. "Can you just let her know that I'm worried about her?" He pleaded with Emily with a depth in his eyes that she didn't think a guy like him could have. She pushed his hand off her arm and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Sure," she muttered. He lit up instantly and did something that surprised her even further; he signed 'thank you' to her with a deft movement of his hand over his chin. So. Emily turned a thought over in her mind, he had been practicing sign language, or at least enough to know a simple phrase like that on. It showed spirit. She smiled slightly. Before she could sign anything back he ran off with a wave as the bell rang over head.  
  
"Fuck!" She muttered, though she felt ready to scream as she turned down the corner of the hall, "Fuck you Race. Damn you to hell. You can smash my hopes, that's one thing, but making me late to independent project, that's a whole other flippin' story." She took off at a jog down the hall, choosing not noticing that she had a small knot in her throat that wouldn't quite go away.  
  
***  
  
Tasuki crept into the room with a large metal pot in one hand and a bowl in the other. The unconscious boy still hadn't moved, and neither had Chichiri. He took a closer look at the monk to see that he had fallen asleep in his chair, his breath deep and muted. Tasuki set the bowl down by his chair, a dinner of soup for when he woke up, and turned his attention to the patient.  
  
His color looked much better; and his skin, which had looked pale but still obviously tanned, was now a rich bronze color.  
  
"Where did you come from strange little boy," Tasuki asked to the sleeping guest as he poured the warm water into a nearby basin. With care he rarely used he scooped up a cup of the water and poured it from one cup to another until it no longer steamed. With a finger he tested it, and satisfied with it's temperature walked over to the boy and opened his mouth. The skin was warm to the touch, a good sign. A few drops at a time he drained the cup into the gradually warming body.  
  
"He should wake up any moment, you know!" A voice sang brightly, just a few inches from his left ear.  
  
"Holy shit!" Tasuki jumped, unaware that the other person in the room had woken up. "What the fuck are you trying to do, kill me?"  
  
"Not at all, you know. You should really watch your language." Chichiri smacked him with his staff causing a large pink bump to suddenly  
  
form on his head.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing you violent psychopath! Why should I fucking watch my language?" The sore spot on his head reminded of one of the reasons he left the life of the warrior, he was beginning to develop a soft spot for all of the wackings. "It's not like sleepin' 'I thought I'd go for a stroll in the mountains' here is gonna hear a damn word I say!" He rubbed his sore spot defensively, anger rising in his eyes.  
  
"You never know, you know." Chichiri said softly, as he pointed to the bed. The figure's eyes suddenly fluttered open, glazed with a soft film that told them that he was awake but not really seeing anything around him. "He's awake, you know," he muttered to Tasuki who rolled his eyes.  
  
"No shit, what was your first clue." He quickly blocked a second blow from Chichiri and nearly yanked the staff from his hands. "Watch it monk boy."  
  
The boy in the bed blinked several times and yawned luxuriously. Pushing aside a few furry robs he shook his head, his long locks spreading out around his shoulders in a white flurry, and sat up; one arm supporting him on the bed, the other on his knee. With the hand that wasn't supporting his body he rubbed his head with a low groan, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Tasuki made a small movement, and the boy must have seen it in the corner of his eye, because in an instant his body tensed like an animal that had suddenly realized it was caught in a trap.  
  
With the same animal fear laced in his eyes his gaze darted around the room, his knuckles white and clutching at the robes. When his search found Tasuki and Chichiri his eyes grew even wider and he backed himself against the wall as if pressing into the stone could make him dissapear.  
  
"Hey, it's okay!" Tasuki tried to console him as the boy looked him up and down with terror tight in his every muscle. "We're not going to hurt you!" He suddenly felt very uncomfortable as the boy's gaze locked itself on his lips and stared at them intensely. The boy seemed to bunch himself up even more as the wheels in his head were clearly turning. Suddenly, with a flurry of hand movements he shot out at Tasuki.  
  
"Get back," Chiciri raised his staff across Tasuki's chest. "His hands! They're conjuring something! He's going to attack, you know!" In a flash a shield of glowing blue formed around the two men, awaiting a burst of magical force. Fortunatly, the blue glow of the shield terrified their assailant.  
  
The boy immediately stopped his hand movements and cried out with a low long bellow like that of a beast of burden, crossing his arms and fists over his eyes, shielding them from the sudden light. The shield continued to harmlessly glow for a few moments, and slowly, he let his hands come down. With an air of experimentation he did a small hand gesture towards Chichiri; which was met by an even stronger glow of blue. The boy sighed with exasperation and carefully scooted to the edge of the bed, placing a bare foot gracefully on the ground.  
  
They watched as the boy touched his toes and ears warily. Chichiri wasn't the only one worried about frost bite it seemed. When the boy had tested each of his limbs, and found them all good and reactive, he pressed a few wrinkles from his pants and thick worn sweater. He sized up the room, and found the bowl of soup next to Chiciri's chair. He looked from it, to the men in the glowing orb and then back. With something like a sigh, he twirled his hands around in their direction.  
  
"Just take the fucking soup! You don't have to threaten us with your damn hand spells!" Tasuki yelled from behind Chiciri who was looking at the visitor through two thoughtfully slitted eyes. The boy just nodded sadly and shrugged, grabbing the bowl and downing it in one large gulp. He smiled crazily and wiped his sleeve across his face. "Chichiri, we have to do something, we need a plan. We can't hide behind the shield like this." He reached for the metal object on his back. "I say we toast him." He said with a deveilish eye on the little threat who was now wandering around the room and touching various objects with an intense curiosity.  
  
"No, he may not be a threat, you know." Chiciri grabbed Tasuki's wrist to stop him from drawing his weapon. "He hasn't done anything that I wouldn't do if I were defensive and in a strange place." He continued to observe the boy carefully. "Let just see what happens, you know."  
  
Finally, he seemed to get bored of the room itself and looked to the men who were looking at his in turn. He looked them up and down carefully, making strange contortions of his face as he gazed at their clothing and other accoutrements on their bodies. Finally, he seemed to summon some courage as his brow went firm and straight, and he thrust his shoulders back.  
  
In two steps he was at the shield and looking at it warily. With a nod, he looked as if he had decided something and took a fingered and tapped it against the glowing blue light. Nothing happened except for a light colorful rippling of purples and blues and a high pitched whining sound.  
  
"What the hell is that!" Tasuki winced and covered his ears.  
  
"It's her life force interacting with the shield. It always sounds like that when someone touches it." Chichiri's voice was strained as he too was obviously hurt by the sound. The boy however didn't even seem to notice as he dragged his finger across the bubble, delightedly watching the waves and patterns the light made in reaction to his finger.  
  
"Well make it fucking stop!" Tasuki cried out against the noise. Chichiri complied and in an instant, the bubble was gone, and the boy made a light braying noise of disappointment as his finger fell through the air where it once rested on the shield. "Yeah, that's right! Too bad! All gone!" Tasuki waved his hands at the boy crazily, scaring him back into a corner and yet another fit of hand movements. "What the hell are you doing you stupid fuck! Damn you and your false hand waving magic, it's not doing anything!" Tasuki stormed into the corner where the boy was cowering and grabbed one of his wrists, pulling him up. His victim cried out unpleasantly. "Look here, I'm getting pretty damn impatient with you, we saved your ass from the snow and cold, and all you can do to repay us is wiggle your arms around." Tasuki noticed that the body in his hand had stopped struggling against his grip and instead was focused intently on his lips. "And stop fucking looking at my mouth you perverted little boy!"  
  
Before he could tell what hit him his prisoner slapped him across the cheek and Tasuki dropped his hold. Surprisingly, however, the boy did not runaway and cower in yet another corner, but held his ground instead, fury raging in his gray eyes. Tasuki rubbed his face where a red mark was forming and glowered.  
  
"What the hell was that for!" He screamed into his face, but the boy didn't wince. His face was set with rage, his mouth pursed and his eyes thin.  
  
"Naw oi! Naw erbert!" He looked Tasuki right in the eye, feet wide in a angry stance. His voice was unlike anything Tasuki had ever heard; honking, with most of the sound coming from his nose rather than his mouth.  
  
"What?" Chichiri was behind Tasuki, putting a hand on his friends shoulder to calm him. Something here was not quite right. The boy saw Chirchiri's face, his kind mask, and repeated what he had said again, but moved his hands.  
  
"Naw," he pulled his thumb across his chin in an angry motion, "oi." He moved his hand to his forehead and pinched his fingers together twice; in a tight fashion that spoke of his emotional state. Both of his onlookers were entirely stupefied. The boy seemed ready to go on with his next phrase when he saw the obvious block in their interaction and looked about ready to cry.  
  
"Naw oi," he repeated over and over, this time shaking his head from shoulder to shoulder vigorously until Chichiri grabbed his arm to stop him. He immediately tensed at the contact, but looked less angry than before. He was clearly tired and upset and his heart reached out to him.  
  
"You're not. something," he said softly, "that much I get. But you don't move your tongue when you speak, I can't understand what you're saying, you know." The boy looked down and nodded, realizing that somehow the communication was only going one way. The boy wrinkled his face with a sour look and grabbed the nearest hand; Tasuki's.  
  
"Naw Oi," he said slowly and he placed the hand over his heart looking flatly into his victim's eyes. Tasuki suddenly began to glow a very bright red.  
  
"Shit, Chichiri, I know what he's trying to say now." He looked the boy in the eyes and felt as if he were about to faint from all of the blood that was suddenly rushing to his cheeks. "Not. boy!" His hand was suddenly relinquished and dropped to his side as he was taken up in a giant bear hug, a noise that may have been a laugh grating in his ear. "Jesus Christ, why couldn't she have just said it!" He looked as if he was having a hard time breathing in her happy death grip.  
  
"I don't think she could, you know." Chichiri suddenly found himself chuckling as well at to poor girl who had willing let herself be groped by Tasuki for the sake of clarity. "I don't think she could."  
  
***  
  
"Emily, it's your break!" A voice cried out to her across the pool hall, a tall man waiting for her to start their game. She waved a hand at him with a cigarette perched between her two fingers.  
  
"You three play cut throat until I get back!" She called out over her shoulder, "I have to make a quick call." She stopped at the bar and ordered a rum and coke, because it wasn't like they carded her. Joe, the bartender, knew she had a fake ID that made her twenty one, three years older than she really was, but he didn't really care. He knew her face, she was friendly and she spent a good amount of money on pool and drinks; that was about all he cared about. Besides, he'd been to prison for much worse, and probably deserved to be in there right now, not like it was any of her business. She strolled over to the pay phone and popped in her money, quickly dialing the only number she had memorized. It rang twice before someone picked up.  
  
"Hello?" An unfamiliar female voice rang out on the other end. Emily had to plug one of her ears to hear anything over the soulful guitar solo blaring from the speaker system.  
  
"Hi! This is Emily, is Mari home?" Jo set the drink down next to her  
  
arm and she grabbed it and tipped it up to him in a gesture of silent gratitude.  
  
"Oh! Emily! Hi! This is Anne, you remember me right?" The voice suddenly became very familiar as Emily smiled into the reciver.  
  
"Hey there! I haven';t heard from you for awhile you weirdo. How's my adopted big sister doing?" Mari's big sister was the closest thing she had to a sibling so she had, on a whim one day, adopted her as such and milked it as often as she could. It really was like a sisterly relationship where they called eachother names and tried to see who was weirder than the other, until Anne moved away. They hardly communicated after that.  
  
"I'm just fine, are you down at the pool hall right now?" Her voice sounded more worried than Emily liked, and she picked up on the strained tone.  
  
"Yeah, of course. What's wrong?" She took a sip of her drink thoughtfully and furrowed her brow. "Is Mari okay?" She aid through a mouthful of rum, and them swallowed. "She wasn't in school today. People were worried." Her thoughts drifted back to her conversation with Race and she took a large swig from the cup in her hand.  
  
"We don't know where she is. Mom and Dad picked Kevin and I up last night at the airport and when we got home there was no sign of her. Nothing." The worry in her voice reached an almost frantic level. "We were hoping you had seen her. This isn't like her at all."  
  
"No, it isn't." Emily was the bad ass of the two, the one who would disappear for a few days and then show up again without any explanation. Mari on the other hand would never even cross the street without someone knowing the why, how and when of it all. Something was definitely wrong, and Emily finally let the feeling of terror she had kept at bay all day sink in. In an instant she knew that a part of her was gone, Mari would not be found, even if they looked for her. For the second time in one day she felt rare tears threaten to fall at the edges of her eyes. "Hold on, okay? I'll be right over."  
  
Fuck, she swore to herself as she hung up the receiver and took a deep drag of her cigarette before putting it out. Mari, you better be okay, god damn you. You're all I've got dammit, you hear me? She paused herself for a moment and looked absently up at the ceiling.  
  
All I've got.  
  
In a flash her coat was on and she was out door into the frigid air that told of the on coming winter. Her keys jingled in the night as she scratched them across the base of the wheel to find the ignition. She finally managed to get the engine started and her headlights on when she paused for a second to look at her hands. They where shaking madly, and she finally let the tears flow from her eyes, banging her hand against her steering wheel. She didn't want to think that she had lost her friend, the person she loved most in the world. She didn't want to dwell on the idea in the least. But, most of all, she didn't want to confront the truth that she knew in her heart. Mari was gone, and she was alone in this world, her heart empty and shattered like the specks of light that were the stars in the night.  
  
**{Getting it out: An Author's "note"}**  
  
Hi hi minna!! I'm glad you've made it to chapt. Two, I'm personally amazed, and can't wait to see who hangs around for more! I just wanted to say that while writing this, and sketching out the plot, I've realized a terrible thing. I am in the midst of writing a partial Mary Sue (a fic about a seemingly normal little girl, who is all too terribly perfect for her own fucking good, who gets some how magically transported into the anime series and does some dizty shit and heroically saves the day, who hoo for her.) as well as a slight FY fic cliché.  
  
(Inner monologue: don't lie to the people Verve! It's a horrible large ugly bastard form of a cliché, and you know it!!)  
  
(alternate inner monologue: Hey! Sod off wanker! Just cause you think it's over done doesn't mean she can't do a good job at it.)  
  
(first inner voice: Well, looks who's decided to butt in! Mr. "I think I'm special cause my presence officially makes Verve a crazed psychopath!" How about this then.I happen to think it CAN be written well, but have you seen the way she writes? Sweet Jebus!)  
  
(Voice two: you have a point there *shutter*. though I don't mind her poetry too much.)  
  
(Verve *very pissed at her inner monologues*: Hey! Just whose side are you guys on anyway!! I happen to think I write well thank you very much, and I don't need your validation to continue doing so.)  
  
(Voice one: *tsk* *tsk* she's in denial and hearing voices. Aren't we just the nice little mental patient?)  
  
(Verve: grrrr.)  
  
Anyway, my point is that I realize that what I'm writing has been done (and over done) before, but I'm stubborn and I don't intend on stopping this story anytime soon. So just take it for the pulp it is, cause like the ugly child that lives in the attic, I love it and feed it small scraps of food anyway.  
  
Anywhoo, there's chapt two, nice and long, the way I like it! As usual, let me know what you think, I ADORED hearing from everyone that reviewed chapt. 1, it really helped me get going on writing more! Thankies all! For those worried about Lu the blue polka dotted mouse, don't be cause he's not real and the magic marker wouldn't hurt him anyway. My friend tried it once on her mouse (not my baby, thank goddess) and it was actually pretty cute. (She said she had a hellofa time keeping her critter still, however. ^_^) Emily just hits me as the type of person to do the same sorta thing, I dunno. But if you wanna waste the time to flame me on it, knock yourself out, I'd like to hear it. 


End file.
